Game of Thrones- A Theoretical Perspective re-blogged

On Facebook, Abeer had shared a link, captioned 'worth a read'. The link was titled as Game of Thrones as Theory, on Foreign Affairs journal online. I haven't seen or read Game of Thrones. Uday is a big fan of these books. Although I haven't watched it completely, my TV shows folder contains the first and second season of the series. I guess Swaroop had given me the e-book version of A Song of Ice and Fire, not sure. I possess a basic understanding of the theme of Game of Thrones, thanks to the above mentioned sources. Moreover, understanding Game of Thrones from a theoretical perspective of International Relations is quite an exciting experience. Everybody knows the story is about the race for power, ruthless strategies, action, sexual debauchery, gender conflict and what not. In a nutshell the chaotic world of ours is replicated elsewhere pushed way back in time, only to further the excesses. As it seems, the series is an example of Realpolitik. A fictional ghetto where might summons the right. It is a non-apologetic verbal and graphic description of domestic and foreign politics. As it has always dawned upon humanity, idealism remains the mirage of naive. The article, though, takes a different position. Charli Carpenter depicts Game of Thrones as a process-cum-consequence of realpolitik than a mere process in which realpolitik unravels itself. The chaos, violence and debauchery do not make up unbridled power but are results of immoral politics. Sheer disregard for norms and judgments of common moral convictions bring about the fall of dynasties, kings and populace. The societal press for respecting values and ethics are aimed at a common good, to which both ruler and the ruled are subjected. The power-intoxicated notion that a king can do as he wishes is immoral and ineffective in the longer run. Let us remind ourselves, pragmatism and effectiveness are integral ideas of realpolitik, a disbelief in inherent human goodness. The more we adopt 'pragmatic' stance and let go off moral values, higher the chances of distrust brewing up in between king-people, people-people and kings-kings, ensuring high instability, to the degree of quantum mechanics. It is such an approach and consequences, Game of Thrones present to the reader and viewer, definitely not an endorsement. The distrust between varying competitors for scarce resources set off the chain of violent events often avoidable. As one of those Plato-quotes suggests a little bit belief doesn't hurt. Thus, I read the article.

Mayan Calendar and a Beautiful Night Sky

The world hasn't ended except for those who died on Dec 21st. Poor things, may their soul rest in peace. So, what was all those noise about? Did the Mayans actually predict the world's end? No, is the answer. The Mayans are an ethnic group still inhabiting the central America and had been a great classical civilization once. They were especially advanced in mathematics and astronomy. Mayans had multiple calendars, longer ones succeeded the shorter ones, combining multiple ones to create newer and elaborate counts. Apart from the normal lunar and solar calendars, Mayans developed a longer calendar, called a Calendar Count, combining a solar and lunar to calculate longer years, up to 52 years. Mayans went longer, literally. In order to calculate years in the range of millennia, they combined these previous calendars to create a newer and longer one, spanning over five millennia. Or 5125 years to be exact. It is known as the Long Count Calendar. At the end of which another great cycle begins, normally like any other calendar, only pretty longer in this case. To know more about how a simple calendar was turned into a doomsday myth and related stories, please visit NASA's Beyond 2012 section. To read more about the Mayan calendar and functions, visit How Stuff Works: How Mayan Calendar Works?

Out of context and out of curiosity- I stumbled upon a beautiful post on a Facebook page, I fucking love science. The post showed a cosmopolitan city, beautifully illuminated night sky at the back drop. A photographer named Thierry Cohen, took these photos to show how night skies would look at the absence of light pollution in cities. Ineffably beautiful indeed!

Does Our Universe Exist Within A Black Hole?

Simulated view of black hole in front of large Magellanic clouds

The universe never ceases to amaze me. So, does the discipline of cosmology. Earlier I had posted a piece on the possibility of our Universe's existence as a simulation programmed from future. Whether it's true or not, that isn't the only explanation, not at all. Hypothesis, regardless of their truth value or final result under a scientific observation, embodies human creativity and imagination. A poem of fine quality written in sciences, many hypotheses are. What do we know about our Universe? Nothing, my answer is. The more we make an attempt at understanding it, as a layman, the better we are informed of our ignorance. True, wisdom is not the perfect knowledge but our understanding of the depth of our imperfection.

Nikodem Poplawski

Indiana University theoretical physicist, Nikodem Poplawski, proposes a radical yet viable idea about the origin and existence our universe. Using Euclidean mathematical modelling (God knows what it is!) he puts forward the notion of our Universe's existence within a black hole, probably inside the worm hole. As most physics enthusiasts know, two great pillars of modern-day physics are Einstein's Theory of Relativity and Max Planck's Quantum Mechanics. Since the proposal of these ground breaking ideas physicists have been trying to incorporate both. It is also quintessential in the quest for the so-called theory of everything aka the Unified Field Theory. As of now, both theories of relativity and quantum mechanics remain separate. Relativity explains happenings of macro scale such as black hole, galaxies etc and Quantum mechanics explain working of particles at atomic levels. Scientists wish to integrate both into one Quantum Gravity. If so, it could well explain many mysteries that dodge physicists such as the dark energy, the cosmological constant, acceleration, existence of singularities etc. Our guy, Nikodem Poplawski, offers an explanation, he believes, answer these scenarios best, by far.

Nikodem Poplawski explains that the universe exists within a black hole and our parent black hole itself could exist within another larger universe. The implication is that our universe's building blocks were routed from an external source. He also seeks help of Einstein-Cartan gravity model, a 1960 adaptation of Theory of Relativity, in the explanation of spin and torsion. Apparently every particle has a spin, the result of which is a torsion. Torsion in simple words means a uni-dimensional rod twisted. If the rod is too thin the twist in unrecognizable. The torsion produces repulsive forces, a possible answer to the existence of dark energy, acceleration and the mismatch between the proportions of matter and anti-matter. As per the hypothesis, the gravitational attraction overpowers torsion but torsion eventually grows stronger enough to halt compression of matter into infinite density. Thus matter gain a finite density. Such a dense state leads to the production of infinite particles, increasing the mass of the black hole. The increasing number of particles with spin leads to greater repulsive torsion forces and a 'big bounce' occurs, thus the expansion of universe happens. Well, interesting and intriguing, isn't it?

The problem is if at all baby universes are being created in every black holes, would we ever be able to contact them. Not a likely scenario, is it? Or is the physicist right at all? The long and arduous research holds the answer. Time shall reveal the truth. For more detailed information please read the report at Inside Science. The scientific inaccuracies about the descriptions of the theory may be excused. 

From Old Collections, Few Snippets

My father has some collections, mostly books. Not much but very readable stuff, such as those old Tell Me Why, Monster Book of Questions And Answers, on the language of English, some fictions and finally few newspaper snippets. Yes, snippets. He had the habit of cutting out news snips of interesting info. Mostly from the old Indian Express dating back to 1999. Some are on English words, others relate to some interesting random queries about the end and dawn of millennia.

The snip talks about the meaning of the word Sang-froid. It means 'calmness in an emergency situation.'

The gentleman replies to an apparent earlier letter, stating or proving on 1/1/2000, the Gregorian calendar completes two millennia. 

The above one is the most interesting, I wonder why didn't it stir up much controversy! Well, 90's, the 24X7 news culture is yet to prop up.

Please read out yourself, if interested. Something about the Julian and Gregorian calendar technicalities.

Great Debaters! I Like the Movie!

I finished watching Great Debaters (2007) yesterday. Please don't expect any ratings or critical appraisal of the film. I am no authority on films neither I have any interest to be. The only reason the film ended up in my movies folder is because of its' title and the obvious theme. The movie deals with four debaters under an eccentric intellectual professor in a small time Texas college. Set in 1935, Prof. Melvin Tolson forms a debate team of four, in Wiley College. The film had strong reference to the racial inequality Blacks had to suffer during those periods, since the main protagonists of the movie are all Blacks. Let's not delve into the film much, rather understand why does it mean anything to me. As I had mentioned in an earlier piece I am a parliamentary debater and the art holds a special position in my heart. After watching the movie, I did an online 'research' to know more about the film. As it turned out, the film is inspired by true events and most of the characters are real-life personalities who had an immense role to play in bringing about an end to the racial discrimination in US. The search on Wiley College debating team left me wonder struck. From 1935, they remained national champions for a decade with a win-loss margin of 75-1. The protagonist characters of the movie such as Melvin Tolson, Samantha Booke (partly inspired from Henrietta Bell Wells), James Farmer Jr. etc represent a period of increased intellectual activities among Black circle in US. The movie depicts the strong will power of the Black community to fight back the violence they encountered and uses debates to visualise these tensions. The climax debate of the movie, THBT civil disobedience is a moral weapon in the fight for justice, is an attempt at encapsulating the cultural transition and tensions of a bygone era. I would definitely recommend the movie to anyone, simply because I love it!

Wiley College Debate Team; Henrietta Bell Wells (in the middle) Melvin Tolson at her right

Who is the judge?

Judge is God!

Why is He God?

Because he decides who wins or loses, not my opponent!

Who is your opponent?

He doesn't exist!

Why does he not exist?

Because he is merely a dissenting voice to the truth I speak!

So, speak the truth!

VOC Coin and a USSR Stamp

Obverse

Once upon a time, I had a hobby. Numismatics, they called it. Coin collection is a very interesting pastime. My sister was a philatelist. But both of us lost interest in numismatics and philately over a same period of time. My sister went a step further forgetting she ever had a collection. Finally today, I retrieved both my coin album and my sister's stamp collection from the garage. Hiding deep under the old green-Sintex barrel, both albums look as new as ever.

Reverse

The siblings' collection is not big at all. Coins number around 40, I guess. Stamps number even more, pretty sure about that. Such a restricted collection is no excitement, save for one piece. The oldest and favorite coin of all is a 1753, VOC issued one. For a long time I was misled to believe the coin belonged to the British Empire, by the lion-crest on the reverse. While I was surfing to collect some information about my coin the truth dawned. The coin was minted and issued by Dutch East Indies Company or Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC, "United East India Company". The search for data on my coin also introduced me to couple of decent coin-collection websites, Catawiki Coin Catalogue and About.com Coin, both divulge possible information on coins, seller details and auction amounts. Well, going through my old coin collection make me feel nostalgic. I feel like starting again some old habits, wish they die hard.

1966-USSR: "Society and Technology" shows Luna 9 space mission and Moon

I am also sharing a 1966 USSR stamp, from my sister's collection, obviously. It commemorates Luna 9 space mission, under Society and technology series. Those who are interested in philately in general please visit, 123RF.

On Anti-ageing and Blood Type Character Analysis

Alright, Immortals of Meluha is finished and Secret of the Nagas is about to begin. Before that, there is an interesting concept I picked up from the former book to be shared. Somras, the drink mentioned in the book, provides near-immortality and life-long agelessness, as in you can remain young until your death, sort of In Time stuff. Shiva, the protagonist, asks Brihaspati, the chief scientist of Meluha, the secret of Somras efficiency. He replies that that the life thrives on energy. The body lives on oxygen, as it helps in metabolism and other such useful stuff. Cool enough. Then, he drops the bombshell. One of the main compounds arising as a result of oxygen's reactions, oxidants, form inside our bodies too. As seen in iron, the oxidants rust the metal and corrode it to death. Exactly the same process happen inside our body; the more oxygen we intake the more oxidants develop and subsequently corrosion-like frailty of organs set in, wearing out ourselves from inside. It is a catch-22 situation. Without oxygen we won't live; with oxygen, we corrode ourselves. And Brihaspati explains the process though which Somras enables body to excrete the toxic oxidants and extend our youth beyond imaginations.

Obviously it left me skeptic. Sounds too good to be real. Initially I felt how could an author propose such ridiculous pseudo-scientific claims. The last page glossary absorbed some of my initial madness. The author, Amish, is not way off the track. He had recommended an article to be read on this hypothesis. Kathryn Brown written A Radical Proposal, published in Scientific American, points finger at oxidants. The article suggests that if we could understand how oxidants cause the ageing-process, probably much increased life expectancy shall become a reality in near future. Later, the article slowly dives into biological mumbo-jumbo, although understandable enough to general audience. Click here to read the preview.

News snippet in Malayalam

In between, I stumbled upon a Facebook post, updated by a Malayalam page, which showed a newspaper snippet. The snip is about a group of Japanese researchers' discovery of human character relative to personal blood groups. Wow! Isn't it? Moving beyond zodiacs, birth dates and horoscopes, seems science has taken on the job of prediction of fate. Anyway, I surfed further on this to find out that the news may be actually true. The website, Asian Lifestyle Design carries the report, titled Japanese Blood Type Character Analysis. As per the website and the snippet, each blood group displays certain character traits:

• A- Hardworking, detail oriented and organised.
• B- Go 'My Way' people and highly individualistic.
• O- They see the 'big picture' and are dependable leaders.
• AB- Difficult to understand, yet creative.

The Rh factor doesn't play a role, apparently, thus blood groups could refer either to positive or negative. What else to say but the sciences and the mysteries they are unveiling are beyond comprehension of my simpleton head. As always, science is thrill, excitement and full of surprises.

Three Years back I was in Mulloor, One Day

Nandu (in all his majesty!)

The story happened almost three years back. I was in Thiruvananthapuram. My family's migration to New Delhi was being pondered upon. I had never visited my friend Nandukumar's home. He had spoken a lot about his village, Mulloor, near Vizhinjam. The twelfth standard board exams were over, vacations on. One of those holidays were chosen and Nandu called me over to his space. Aboard a Vizhinjam bound bus, bought a Rs.10 ticket, I guess. In forty-five minutes or so, destination was reached. Thanks to the extremely protective upbringing, I hardly knew my city. I  got down at Vizhinjam bus stand. Left clueless and staring at the horizon, I received Nandu's call. I found him mounted on his black Activa, spotting some fake RayBan glasses. It took another thirty minutes to reach his place. We spent some time at his home, a modest but comfortable one. I always used to make fun of him, and I still do, about how his father (a contractor) taking advantage of government funds and making a fortune out of it. Just for pun, no offences intended, obviously. We left the house shortly on his Activa, to the Mulloor beach. 

He had already fallen in love with the beach and wanted to throw me prey next. Well, the boy was right. It is the most beautiful beach shore in Thiruvananthapuram, a city that boasts of Kovalam, main Vizhinjam and other smaller beaches. But none could match the sheer beauty and serenity of the place. Its' awesome. What attracted me most were rocks, which showed effects of gradual erosion, forming beautiful patterns, providing a pre-historic feel. Nandu guided my attention to molasses and corals, glued to the rocks, washed constantly by waves after waves. Apparently Mulloor Beach is known for high and low tides, bigger in comparison with that of other beaches in the city. Nandu even dared to claim that these molasses, corals and other growths happening on the rocks stand testimony to the process of evolution, as these are 'un-evolved' life forms, only science knows. 

The boon of Mulloor, apart from its' nature gifted grace and beauty is its' relative cleanliness. The latter, the beach owes to its' secluded location and anonymity. Since people don't crowd and spill their trash, as happen in Kovalam, the state of nature is retained. There were some locals out there, staring at us, as if what are these two jeans-clad boys doing here. It was obvious that I am an outsider, a rarity at such remote places. Nandu, for the person he is, deserves a better address. Something that made me startle was the then prevailing land prices back in Mulloor and Vizhinjam, which literally amounted to crores per a cent of land. Together, we badmouthed Nandu's grandpa, who refused a plum offer of land, at a cheap rate, in Mulloor long time back owing to the place's backwardness. Best opportunity foregone. 

We went on talking, in middle of which, Nandu revealed more contentious facts, one of which was that the mosque nearby his home had actually been a temple. Fine enough, it could be true, you know. Surprisingly, we bumped on to the crew of Taste of Kerala, broadcasting on Amrita TV, shooting a sea-food special episode on the shores. While the rest of the crew was taking a break, somehow we ended up talking to one crew member or did I start the conversation? God knows. Later those guys left and without much delay so did we. Hmm, looking back at that day, I feel a comfortable warmth and wish could visit Mulloor once more. I pray, the place hasn't changed at all.

Nandu and I (after a podium finish at Tussle Quiz in 2010)

The Mother- Gorky, Relentless and Soviets

Maxim Gorky's Mother is a classic, which needs no introduction. I possess one copy of the book. Actually it belongs to my father. For some reason, I haven't been able to finish it. Two earlier attempts were made to reach the last page progressively. Initial attempt was made long back, at least 5 full Gregorian era calendars should be turned. Then, I was a kid, relatively. My own laziness stopped me from finishing. As we say, there is always a tomorrow. And that tomorrow came a long five years later, this year. I had started reading fiction seriously and had the momentum with me.

The Mother is a brilliant read and gave me the much needed literary break from action-packed adventures I had been devouring. The read is subtle and intense simultaneously. A calm and light-weighted feeling on your chest, it provided a real escape from the outside world. Anyone could easily connect with the protagonist and the pre-revolution Russian worker class plight. There came the twist in the tale. I contracted an eye infection and the doctor advised a strict No-No to books, laptops, TV etc. In whole, eyes must not be strained at all. The Mother had to be left in midway. The life resumed later and the fiction-momentum was picked up gradually, although my academics stayed as neglected as ever. The Mother, somehow, refused to come along or I didn't bother to take the read along. The book still remains in the shelf, waiting to be picked up and eager to climax. The book seems so much demanding and proud. No momentum would work against it. It is as if the read creates a space and pace of its' own, regardless of the reader's surroundings. If the novel feels tired, it rests, forcing the audience to retire. Certainly the scroll knows its' place among world classics and she demands the respect. This fiction has life; words avenge for the once-neglected lives. No wonder, the work refuses to budge. Revolutionary, indeed!

Another exciting feature about the copy is that it was printed in USSR, a remnant of past global communist Czar. My father bought it during his youth days, back in Tamil Nadu, for Rs.5! Probably a part of Soviet tactics to lead the young of the world the global revolution way!

Abhed's Blog- Re-Discovering a Lineage

My friend Abhed Kiran is a gentle man whose lineage is traced back to the erstwhile Travancore royal family. He is an avid reader, blogger and an intellectual. Most of his blogs concern about the pre-Kerala Travancore state, its' history, polity and culture.

Map of Travancore- 1871

His blog, Dharmosad Kuladaivatam, is extremely rich in dealing with the history of Kerala, something we Malayalis have chosen to forget. Out of many, two particular blog posts deserve attention, Travancore and Britannia and Kayamkulam War and Kurup's Lane. The former talks about the State of Travancore's diplomatic relations with the Great Britain during pre-Independence in general and latter deals with the Kurup families in Thiruvananthapuram and their legacy in relation with the Kayamkulam war. Both are enlightening and offers a perspective of an Indian princely state independent of North Indian dominated national history as such. Those who have a keen eye on History wouldn't miss either of them.

p.s: I don't subscribe completely to Abhed's viewpoint on history.

Apollo 13- Why I Love and What I Have Learned?

"Hello Houston, this is Odyssey! Its' good to see you again!"

Apollo 13, released on 1995, holds an IMDB rating of 7.5/10. It stars Tom Hanks, during his better days. The movie talks about the story of three lunar astronauts on an ill-fated mission to Moon. Although the launch was successful their module encountered some technical trouble and and subsequent explosion on board ripped the heat shield off the ship. The life aboard the malfunctioning space module and their heroic re-entry back to Earth summarises the plot. The tension building scenes and gripping background score make the climax an unforgettable one. Then, it is no wonder that the movie dialogue of my choice is Tom Hank's re-entry hello to the mission control, "Hello, Houston, this is Odyssey! Its' good to see you again!"

Apollo 13 crew; Lovell (left) Swigert (middle) Haise (right)

The movie is based on a real life event. Apollo 13 was the seventh manned-mission and third lunar one. They were launched on April 11, 1970 and crew returned safely back to earth on April 17. James. A. Lovell, the captain of the ship was an experienced test pilot who had experienced emergency aboard. The life of this man is an inspiration, strengthening our resolve to face and fight adversity and succeed. The entire story of Apollo 13 is that of indomitable human will power, team work and belief in the motto 'failure is not an option.' Let me remind you, the word succeed here doesn't mean glory or honour. Personally, the word stresses the importance on human will to survive. At the end of the day, nothing else matters than just staying alive. In a nutshell Apollo 13 personifies the best of humanity and represents one of my most favourite episodes in human history!

Is Universe a Virtual Simulation? Really?

Nick Bostrom

Are we living inside a super-computer simulated environment? Is our universe nothing but the result of powerful codes? Is our reality virtual? Do we exist at all? Some of you may startle, others shocked and I am excited. The question of existence and its' possible meaning has always donned my mind, as it does everybody else's. After flirting through possibly all kinds of explanations including that of pantheism and Advaita, I made peace with the chaos. Probably there is no meaning after all. Or at best keep yourself open to everything, unconvinced. The saintly skeptic silence. The imaginative skills of our mind are boundless, the imaginations are out-of-the-world, inside an idiot-box? The possibility of our universe's existence as mere computer game or programmes, simulated by super-human intelligent beings had hit me long back. Doesn't it sound interesting, exciting and blasphemous to an extent? Finally scientists have started indulging such a hypothesis.

Martin Savage (left); Photo Courtesy: Seattle Times

Apparently it has been turned out I wasn't the first one to think 'the-simulated-way'. Nick Bostrom, a philosophy professor at Oxford presented the hypothesis in a 2003 paper. Now, a team of theoretical physicists in University of Washington, led by Prof. Martin Savage, have presented a paper on such a possible explanation of our existence, our reality, virtually. Please read the Seattle Times report, 'Living in a simulated world: UW scientists explore the theory, to understand more of this exciting new prospect. The question that lingers at the end of the trail is 'Who-stole-my-idea?'

King, Country and Sagat

A piece of Vijay Diwas celebration in Mumbai, by Sagat.  The article, Pro Rege Et Patria offers a perspective of a civilian understanding of celebrations, soldiers's excitement and mutual admiration. Sagat Peter Shaunik dons the role of civilian, quite unusual for our military guy.

Sagat's Blog

Sagat is in the middle; I am at extreme left

Sagat Peter Shaunik is an unusual friend. Apart from his gentle demeanor, inspired from the best of British traditions, his family legacy is one anyone would be instantly jealous of. Boasting a recorded military lineage of over 200 years, it doesn't surprise me that India's first Param Vir Chakra went to his family. Generals, gallantry awards, crossing the enemy line and killing Japanese and seizing Katana (Samurai traditional blade) in WWII, nothing is left to the martial imaginations of a layman undone. And his blog too is equally impressive and awe-inspiring. It deals with the military history (family matters, as a matter of fact) of his kith and kin. Visit Simply Gun-Powder , you don't want to miss it for anything.